In its pre-budget submission MCA Victoria says the state has a golden opportunity to create jobs by fast-tracking its plan to unlock critical minerals and rare earths projects.

MCA Victoria executive director James Sorahan said the world was facing a shortage of critical minerals and rare earths.

"Victoria has potential to supply mineral sands, rare earths, copper, antimony and gold, generating enormous economic benefits to regional areas and creating additional revenue streams for the state," he said.

"More mines mean more revenue."

The MCA Victoria has asked for modest investments to:

• Build capacity in Resources Victoria to speed up approvals;
• Invest in geoscience and infrastructure to promote critical minerals projects;
• Change Victoria's unfair and poorly designed gold royalty regime; and
• Build the next generation of the mining workforce through regional skills initiatives and earth sciences curriculum in secondary school.

The gold royalty was sprung on the industry in 2019, at a time when gold production was at record levels.

The royalty is set a 2.75% of the net market value of gold produced and applies to the first 2500 ounces of gold production per annum.

Gold and brown coal had been the only minerals exempt from royalties in Victoria.

The concern is that the royalty is a brake on investment in the state and a disincentive to developing gold mines there.

"The Victorian government has shown an unfortunate eagerness to see tax increases as solution to paying down runaway debt," Sorahan said.

"If it is serious about bolstering the Victorian economy, and increasing investment in mining and industry, tax should not be seen as a solution to addressing budget constraints.

"Such strategies will have perverse outcomes on the Victorian economy, increasing the strain on investment and job creation."

MCA Victoria wants the government to take the "Education State" logo to heart, too, and support the next generation of geoscientists, engineers, trades and entry-level students in the growing mining industry.

"Victoria lacks earth science education options at VCE [Victorian Certificate of Education] level and there are limited options for regional school leavers to study mining-related courses despite the growing number of mining jobs across Australia as we supply the critical inputs to electrification and modern technology," Sorahan said.

There are some positives though.

Sorahan said MCA Victoria welcomed government moves to change mining law, introduce grants for critical minerals and create a project coordination role in Resources Victoria.

"However, more remains to be done," he said.

"Small investments in supporting mining will pay huge dividends to the Victorian community as regional economies diversify and create more opportunities to grow regional towns."